[Tia Maria]

I'm sure there are so many swings and roundabouts, (technical term), when it comes to determining whether you are actually better off tax wise in NZ or your home country.

But on a purely basic level, do you feel you pay more tax in NZ or your home country?

And whichever country you feel taxes you higher, do you feel its money well spent?

Cheers

Tia

[Familyofmonkeys]

We pay very slightly more in tax overall than we did in UK (i think) and we also aren't eligable for tax credits :( But as OH earns more here, we are still better off :)

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

I think it feels like you pay more in NZ as the 'in your face' income tax is higher, but there are fewer 'stealth' taxes, so I suspect it's actually not much different pro rata, all things considered, at the end of the day, when all is said and done......

[Jo Jo]

I will pay more tax here than I did in the UK - in fact more tax here than I paid in tax and National Insurance in the UK (and I was in the 40% tax bracket in the UK). And no, I don't feel it's money well spent, but that might be because now I am self-employed, so actually have to physically depart with the money, whereas I never had it in my greasy hands in the UK... But, in the UK, I knew that a sizeable proportion of my deductions were going on the NHS, and I didn't really mind that, whereas here I have no idea where my money's going.

I'm sure if I add up all the "stealth" taxes, as BBB calls them, then I might be better off, especially as I hardly spend anything here so am paying a lot less in GST than I did in VAT (sorry, everyone in the UK - I think the recession may actually be down to the fact I emigrated and stopped buying things...), but I never really thought of those things as taxes -it's all about the deductions and the effect on the money in your pocket for me.

[James 1077]

I pay significantly less tax here than I did in the UK when you take all the stealth taxes (VAT, NI, employer's NI, fuel duty etc) into account.

However I don't think that the money is well spent but that is symptomatic of all governments around the world trying to do too much in order to continue to justify their pay and continued existence (why does a country the size of NZ NEED 121 MPs - it is unnecessary).

[neilw71]

Apart from Income Tax - Council TAx here is significantly LOWER than the UK. I hat eto think what it is in the UK now, but we used to pay GBP1100 and here we pay NZ$1000 ! I bet the UK figure would be close to GBP1500 now.

We pay less overall

Neil

[Caroline and Dave]

You may find this useful

http://www.broadbaseinternational.com/pdf/beginners%20guide%20to%20nz%20tax.pdf

There is a wealth of information on here and well worth spending time looking through. The UK site and the NZ site are very helpful.We have dealt with Jeremy and find that his info is accurate and reliable IMHO

[IanW99]

Well according to Tax Freedom Day (http://www.staplesrodway.com/index.cfm/Resources/Tools_and_Links/Tax_Freedom_Day)

It was 21st May 2008 for NZ and 4th June 2008 for the UK, so this year you will be paying less tax in NZ than the UK (it was 24th April for US).

This is of course average values, the link above also gives you a personal tax freedom calculator so that you can work out your own specific date if interested.

Ian

[Milliemoo]

I'm positive we must be paying less tax here than in the UK.

All I've got to do is remind myself of the £185 PER MONTH I was paying just in council tax! Gawd knows what it would be now if we were still there.

Also, Stamp Duty. One of the reasons we couldn't afford a new home in Edinburgh. We would have been looking at spending approx £300k on a new property which would have landed a £9k tax bill!


OH was higher rate tax in the UK and is here also, but although I don't get my tax free status (working part time for crap money) I'd still say we're a LOT better off in the long run.

Milliemoo

[incredible hulse]

About the same as the UK (tax and NI) I guess.
Not sure about the lower stealth taxes - pay fuel duty, gst (on everything), rates (in real terms similar to UK for us and then we have to pay for bin collections, sewerage costs and also have to pay to go to the tip), school fees, doctors fees, acc levies, tax on pension growth, no tax free savings allowance. Also worry about what would happen if I was off sick (non acc covered) due to the pitiful sick leave allowances.

No stamp duty is a big bonus though !

[Tia Maria]

I miss the tax incentives to save, tax wrappers and no tax for children. I really wonder if Kiwis save at all? Unless I've missed something other than the concept of buying property.

I also miss the personal allowance which makes it possible for someone to earn some part time cash without being taxed on the first dollar.

Cheers

Tia

[Moorf]

I also miss the personal allowance which makes it possible for someone to earn some part time cash without being taxed on the first dollar.

As a part-time freelancer I also miss this allowance.

[sbinder]

This is a very timely thread. There has been a thread (http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16397) of late for us Americans to whinge a bit about NZ, and I think the general trend was that most emigrants from the US pay more in taxes here than back there. Taxes here are far simpler to complete :clap but the very lack of all the adjustments that make US taxes so complicated also greatly increases the equivalent tax rate. As a white collar engineer doing relatively well for myself, I have seen my income tax rate more than double here, and GST is a third higher than the sales tax I paid most recently in the States (which was in and of itself relatively high). Out of all this, I am trying to figure out where the money goes. I have worked out a couple points each arguing for higher and lower taxes, but don't have a satisfactory conclusion.
Reasons why I would think taxes would be lower in NZ:

NZ has fewer levels of government. No provinces (i.e. States) means you have less levels of bureaucracy.
I am continually amazed at how much is outsourced to private firms here - from road maintenance to judicial prosecuting to licensing and inspection (business, car, etc). I always thought the primary argument behind outsourcing was lower cost/higher efficiency.
NZ has managed to never get involved in [two] land wars in Asia (or go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! :D), neither of which are particularly cheap. Wars aside, I imagine defence spending is a much smaller part of the budget in NZ.
I would think law enforcement would cost less here, as well, since prison terms are shorter and the NZ Police are the sole law enforcement agency (whether they have proper staffing levels also seems to be a matter of debate), compared with the cost of long prison terms and many different police agencies in the States.


Reasons why I gather taxes are higher here:

ACC
I gather there is a limit to which the government can borrow against, and it is quite a bit lower than the US. So deficit spending is somewhat constrained here, while the US government often lacks any such spending restraint?
The tax base obviously is smaller than the US (as is the scope of services - paying for 4m compared to 330mil). However, perhaps the tax base, both individual and corporate, is much smaller relative to the scope, so services per capita are more expensive?


The last three are all conjecture; I am an engineer and not an accountant! Anyone with a more comprehensive understanding of taxes and appropriations care to take a crack at the above?

[incredible hulse]

However I don't think that the money is well spent but that is symptomatic of all governments around the world trying to do too much in order to continue to justify their pay and continued existence (why does a country the size of NZ NEED 121 MPs - it is unnecessary).

An addition to this - there is a far bit of hoo-ha in Kapiti at the moment (rightly so) as the local council chief executive got a 300k payoff after resigning from a job he was in for 5 months (I think he got to keep his 45k council paid for car also). Turns out he was on 200k pa. This is around 5 times national wage for what is in reality a very small and unimportant region

[Spooky]

In Singapore most of us in the middle income bracket are taxed at a progressive rate of 14%. We're one of the lowest taxed countries.

Our mortgage rates are also unbelievably low - 2.5%.

No wonder people say I am crazy to consider moving out.

[chocolate cake]

I defintely pay more tax here than in UK, I'd agree it the saving incentives that make a big difference too, Pensions, ISAs etc..and being charged from the first $ earnt.

I didn't realise NZ had 121 MPs that's ridiculous, I thought it was bad enough in the UK with 600 or so and all the Euro MPs too, but for a popn the size of NZ, 121's certainly too many. Do they get to bote on their own salaries and pensions a la their UK equivalents. That said democracy is a privelage when you think of other countries.

[chocolate cake]

Yes, ought to mention while GST is less VAT in the UK by 5%, it is charged on everything including food which makes a big difference.